Maverik, a western convenience store chain with over 200 stores in seven states, has worked with 8fish since 1999 to hone their marketing message and radically alter their image from a quaint, Old West country store to “Adventure’s First Stop”—one of the most innovative and highly lauded convenience store brands in the country.

Because of their bold, unique look, Maverik was featured as the cover story in the March 2008 issue of Convenience Store News—the industry’s leading publication.

8fish Awarded 2008 Silver Davey Award for Website Design(MAY 2009)

In 2008, 8fish received a Silver Davey Award in website design for Maverik-KickStart.com. The Davey Award honors the creative excellence of smaller agencies and companies worldwide.

Produced by 8fish, Kick Start™ is Maverik’s weekly reality show. The show promotes the Maverik convenience store chain by cleverly blending advertising with entertainment, involving brands and products that are complementary with the show’s adventure-related theme. Kick Start airs weekly on NBC affiliate KSL Channel 5 in Salt Lake City and it’s already launching its second season. To view the website and episodes, please go to www.maverik-kickstart.com.

In 2008, 8fish received Silver Davey Awards in editing, graphics and cinematography for the Maverik Kick Start™ “Ops Gear” episodes one and two. The Davey Award honors the creative excellence of smaller agencies and companies worldwide.

Produced by 8fish, Kick Start is Maverik’s weekly reality show. The show promotes the Maverik convenience store chain by cleverly blending advertising with entertainment, involving brands and products that are complementary with the show’s adventure-related theme. Kick Start airs weekly on NBC affiliate KSL Channel 5 in Salt Lake City and it’s already launching its second season. To view episodes, please go to www.maverik-kickstart.com.

Maverik, a western convenience store chain with over 200 stores in seven states, began airing an innovative approach to marketing in May 2008, Kick Start™.

Produced by 8fish, Kick Start is a weekly reality show that promotes the Maverik convenience store chain by cleverly blending advertising with entertainment, involving brands and products that are complementary with the show’s adventure-related theme. Kick Start airs weekly on NBC affiliate KSL Channel 5 in Salt Lake City and it’s already launching its second season. To view episodes, please go to www.maverik-kickstart.com.

Maverik and Kick Start were featured as the cover story in the January 2009 issue of Convenience Store/Petroleum—a leading industry publication: “Maverik does nothing small, nothing halfway. … no other convenience retailer has created—or, it could be argued, is capable of creating—its own stand-alone TV show in hopes of selling more candy bars and bags of chips.”

CSPTV Features Maverik Kick Start™, Produced by 8fish(MAY 2009)

CSPTV, the first and only regularly scheduled online video news program in the convenience-retailing channel, featured Maverik Kick Start™ in a January 19, 2009 episode, exploring how the show has impacted Maverik’s business.

Produced by 8fish, Kick Start is a high-flying, on-the-edge weekly reality show that promotes the Maverik convenience store chain by cleverly blending advertising with entertainment, involving brands and products that are complementary with the show’s adventure-related theme. Kick Start airs weekly on NBC affiliate KSL Channel 5 in Salt Lake City and it’s already launching its second season. To view episodes, please go to www.maverik-kickstart.com. To view the CSPTV story, please go to http://www.cspdigitals.com/CSPTV/011909-index.html.

8fish Asked to Rebrand Automatic Car Credit®(MAY 2009)

Automatic Car Credit, an auto sales and financing franchise operation headquartered in Layton, Utah, lacked a likeable brand language and image. They approached 8fish for help. 8fish began Phase I of the project by examining the competitive landscape and Automatic Car Credit’s current stance and image, eventually creating the “It’s Automatic” brand campaign.

Phase II of the project developed the “It’s Automatic” campaign in detail, exploring how the campaign should be reflected in ACC’s business model, culture, marketing programs and corporate identity—from logo treatments to signage and even a mascot, Auto, a robotic, animated car.

Phase III of the rebranding campaign is underway with script treatments for radio and TV ads and voiceover and animation development to bring Auto to life.

8fish Rebrands Bountiful Mazda(MAY 2009)

Bountiful Mazda in Utah approached 8fish to rebrand their dealership and help differentiate them in the marketplace. 8fish began Phase I of the project by examining the competitive landscape, industry trends, and Bountiful Mazda’s current stance in the marketplace as well as the challenges they faced.

Phase II of the project explored Bountiful Mazda’s target demographic in depth with customer surveys. Research revealed that Bountiful Mazda embraced the culture and brand of Mazda more completely than any other dealership. 8fish recommended that Bountiful Mazda take a position of complete “Mazda-ness” by focusing on customers’ desires to improve their image and their quest for the lowest price. A tagline was developed, “Be Mazda”—a rally call to action, a call to be different, sexy and smart.

Phase III launched the “Be Mazda” campaign with radio and TV ads, logo treatments and signage.

8fish Launches Rebranded Lightstream Communications Website(MAY 2009)

Lightstream Communications, headquartered in Salt Lake City, is a telecommunications service provider with a solid reputation and an expert, consultative approach to telecommunications solutions. However, they felt their website wasn’t communicating their message effectively—both verbally and visually. They came to 8fish for help.

8fish began Phase I of the project by examining the competitive landscape and talking to Lightstream employees. What was the company truly about? One word we kept hearing was “integrity”. We also heard how important it was for Lightstream to “prove” themselves to their clients. The current website did not reflect these values.

Building on the findings from Phase I, 8fish began Phase II with several recommendations: 1. Create a brand vision with a strong tagline, “Integrity in Relationships. Integrity in Technology.” This reflects Lightstream’s core values upfront. 2. Create a brand promise with a motto, “The proof is in the pudding.” 3. Prove to potential customers how Lightstream can benefit their business. The current site only had a PowerPoint presentation to define Lightstream’s product offering. 8fish recommended a “Proof” video from the employees themselves, as well as video testimonials and quotes from satisfied customers. We also advised adding case studies, detailing success stories from different clients.

Lightstream enthusiastically accepted all of our recommendations and, in Phase III, we began executing upon them—completely revamping the website so it conveyed a clear, compelling message. To view the new website, please go to www.lightstreamcommunications.com.

8fish Participates in Annual ADDY Illustration Event(MAY 2009)

As part of the pre-judging for the American Advertising Federation of Utah’s annual ADDY’s competition, 8fish President Ernie Harker and Animation and Illustration Director Ian Johnston participated in an illustration event on January 7, 2009, at State Fair Park in Salt Lake City.

Armed with nothing more than markers, sketch pads, and talent, some of the most creative minds from several acclaimed Utah ad agencies and production studios were organized into teams and given the task of coming up with concepts on the fly for challenging campaigns like making back hair “sexy” and promoting ostrich meat. The event was featured on Salt Lake CBS affiliate KUTV Channel 2’s morning show.

Santa Monica-based Blissium, a leading motion graphics design and editiorial agency, hired 8fish to create a detailed 2D animated TV commercial launching a new line of Batman action figures and toys. Using Flash and Photoshop, 8fish created the commercial in the same style as the Batman: The Brave and the Bold series currently airing on the Cartoon Network®. The spot seamlessly blends animation with live action.

The illustration and animation team worked tirelessly to meet the client’s tight deadlines and get the project completed on time. The commercial will air in March to coincide with the new toy launch.

8fish was a prominent sponsor at the 2009 Utah American Advertising Federation ADDY Awards. The awards recognize creative excellence in all forms of advertising. The gala and banquet took place at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, February 28, 2009.

Over 400 entries from 36 Utah advertising agencies were submitted for the competition. To showcase the winners, 8fish produced an hour-long video presentation interspersed with entertaining animated “commercials” featuring imaginary inventions designed to help those in the advertising industry. Some of these inventions included the Mega-Blaster Client Attitude Adjuster Ray, the Stupefying Galvanic Brainstorm Accelerator Helmet and the Subatomic Creative Director Ego Minimizer. To view the commercials, click here.

"The 8fish presentation was superb and may very well be our best to date,” said Jeff Olsen, the Utah American Advertising Federation President. "The 2009 ADDY Gala and Banquet was a huge success. The AAF-Utah is grateful to all of the sponsors that helped in making the event successful,” said Marcia Winn, the 2009 ADDY Committee Chairperson. “This year's winners video, prepared by 8fish, was fun; the clever commercials were entertaining and I received many compliments from attendees on how much they enjoyed the video."

Two-hundred and forty people attended the event, with 19 agencies receiving awards. Over 170 awards were handed out. The ADDYS are the only creative awards program administered by the advertising industry for the industry.

8fish Awarded 2008 Silver Davey Award for Website Design(MAY 2009)

In 2008, 8fish received a Silver Davey Award in website design for Maverik-KickStart.com. The Davey Award honors the creative excellence of smaller agencies and companies worldwide.

Produced by 8fish, Kick Start™ is Maverik’s weekly reality show. The show promotes the Maverik convenience store chain by cleverly blending advertising with entertainment, involving brands and products that are complementary with the show’s adventure-related theme. Kick Start airs weekly on NBC affiliate KSL Channel 5 in Salt Lake City and it’s already launching its second season. To view the website and episodes, please go to www.maverik-kickstart.com.